1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a vacuum cleaner for cleaning a surface, and more particularly, to an upright type vacuum cleaner having a lifting/lowering unit for use in mounting a dirt collection bin on a cleaner body or removing the dirt collection bin from the cleaner body.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, an upright type vacuum cleaner is an appliance for drawing-in dust-contained in air, removing dust from the air, and discharging dust-free air, wherein such a vacuum cleaner comprises a cleaner body and a dust collection device mounted in a mounting space formed on the cleaner body. The dust collection device comprises a dust collection bin for temporarily storing filtered dust, wherein in order to receive filtered dust, the dust collection bin should be fixed to the mounting space in the vacuum cleaner in such a manner that the dust collection bin is neither shaken nor released, and when the dust fills the dust collection bin to some extent, the dust collection bin should be removed from the mounting space so as to throw away the collected dust.
In particular, an upright type vacuum cleaner employs a lifting/lowering unit for use in lifting or lowering a dust collection bin within a mounting space so as to mount or remove the dust collection bin. Such a lifting/lowering unit is mounted on the bottom wall of the mounting space formed on the cleaner body so that when the lifting/lowering unit is lifted from the bottom of the mounting space, it pushes the dust collection bin upward, thereby making the dust collection bin come into close contact with a cyclone cylinder so as to fix the dust collection bin in such a manner as to be unmovable, or when the lifting/lowering unit is lowered and thus returned to its original position, the dust collection bin is spaced from the cyclone cylinder.
However, in the related-art upright type vacuum cleaner, the cyclone cylinder of the dust collection device is anchored to the cleaner body by 4 (four) screws. Therefore, it is not easy to maintain and repair the vacuum cleaner, and, in some situation, the lifetime of the vacuum cleaner may be shortened. That is, in order to anchor the cyclone cylinder to the cleaner body or separate the cyclone cylinder from the cleaner body, an extra tool such as a screw driver is required and also it takes much time to screw or unscrew the cyclone cylinder to or from the cleaner body.
Also, in order to clean or repair the cyclone cylinder, an operation of screwing or unscrewing the cyclone cylinder is necessarily required. If the number of screwing or unscrewing operations increases, damage to a screwing part of the cleaner body may be incurred, thereby making it impossible to use the vacuum cleaner.
Further more, in the related-art upright type vacuum cleaner, friction is necessarily produced between the dust collection bin and the protrusion of a mounting/dismounting means when the dust collection bin is spaced from the cleaner body.
Also, the dust collection bin should be frequently spaced from the cleaner body in order to be emptied. Therefore, the friction caused by long term use of the vacuum cleaner incurs a scratch on an inclination recess of the dust collection bin.
The scratch does not affect the performance of the vacuum cleaner but spoils the appearance of the vacuum cleaner in consideration of that the dust collection bin is formed of a transparent material by injection-molding. That is, the reliability of a product is affected by the scratch.
The publication of Korean Patent No. 433407 owned by the applicant also discloses a vacuum cleaner, wherein a lifting/lowering unit is installed on the bottom wall of a mounting space for receiving a dust collection device, the mounting space being formed on the cleaner body of the vacuum cleaner, and a dust collection bin, which is laid on the top of the lifting/lowering unit, comes into close contact with the cyclone cylinder or is spaced from the cyclone cylinder as a lever part is rotated left or right. However, because an air tubing, which is provided within the vacuum cleaner, and through which air from the cyclone cylinder is discharged, is curved toward the cleaner body of the vacuum cleaner, the flow passage for discharge air is increased, which results in a pressure loss. In addition, the cyclone cylinder is mounted in the mounting space and only the dust collection bin is removable. Therefore, there was a disadvantage in that when the dust collection bin is removed, dust or the like deposited on the inner wall of the cyclone cylinder drops, thereby causing the pollution or even the malfunction of the lifting/lowering unit and reducing the lifetime of the lifting/lowering unit.
The publication of Korean Patent No. 471142 also owned by the applicant also discloses a vacuum cleaner in which air discharged from a cyclone chamber is adapted to be discharged through the bottom wall of a dust collection bin so as to reduce the length of tubing for use in discharging air from the cyclone chamber, as a result of which the loss of pressure in the tubing can be reduced. However, with such a construction, it was difficult to apply a lifting/lowering unit for lifting and lowering the dust collection bin due to the leakage of air between the dust collection bin and the body of the vacuum cleaner, for which problem researches have been continuously made.